Imagine opening a small door on an imposing building, only to find bright rolling fields of grass on the other side. Like a movie set with its tricks revealed, French photographer Zacharie Gaudrillot-Roy has been capturing images of the city and reducing the buildings down to just their facades. In doing so he creates fictitious worlds where their architectural substance is only skin deep.

Zacharie’s work gives us a chance to appreciate the facades like individual artistic canvases. Where one building could be an ugly apartment block – telephone wires and stuck-on balconies included – we now get to assess the structure free of its intended purpose.

In these surrealist landscapes, the humans, their vehicles and even the purposeful lighting, all become fictions – pointless accompaniments to a land without reason. Is this some grand facade intended on fooling one individual à la The Truman Show or Inception? Make your assessment at Zacharie Gaudrillot-Roy’s personal site.

Benjamin Starr

Known in some circles as the most amazing man in the universe, he once saved an entire family of muskrats from a sinking, fire engulfed steamboat while recovering from two broken arms relating to a botched no-chute wingsuit landing in North Korea. When not impressing people with his humbling humility, he can be found freelance writing, finding shiny objects on the internet, enjoying the company of much-appreciated friends and living out his nomadic nature. He is Managing Editor of Visual News. Follow his movements on Twitter: